For the second year in a row, lockdown has forced the cancellation of a Ballarat Rubik's Cube competition.
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The state's top speedcubers were to descend on the city for Brilliant Ballarat 2021 this weekend, but after the announcement of a seven-day lockdown, organisers were forced to cancel the event, regardless of whether the lockdown is lifted in time.
It is the second consecutive year the event, which hosts about 200 competitors and spectators, has been cancelled, after last year's could not take place in the height of lockdown.
Organiser Aaron Spiller said he and a team of eight people had spent months organising the event.
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"The venue was booked all the way back in February, I had all the chairs for it, the equipment ready and to have this a week ago, it just sucks," he said.
"For a solid two or three months, it was all good, preparing all the forms and equipment we needed. Then you hear someone's got a case in Victoria and you're like, if it stays contained, we think it's all good, we can still go ahead, then you get couple more cases, more and more hotspots and then you're thinking lockdown maybe in Melbourne and then if people are locked down in Melbourne, it just can't happen.
"In about the week before it, which is when we get all set up for it, we would be busy nearly every day getting ready for it."
Mr Spiller said while he normally attended every speedcubing event he could, he was only able to attend once last year.
"I was lucky enough to go to a couple of competitions back in March or April this year when there wasn't much COVID, but before then it was all the way back in February 2020 since I'd last been to a competition so it is pretty sad to only have been to maybe one in a year," he said.
"We'll just try and get another one going as soon as we can, really. It probably won't be until at least late this year because they're booked so far ahead that the Victorian calendar is pretty much set for the rest of the year, provided there aren't any more lockdowns."
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